Plucky Tomic says it's just a matter of time

BERNARD Tomic is not yet the player he will be; Roger Federer not quite the unstoppable force he was. But it took one of the world's best players to inflict the 20-year-old's only defeat of the summer - a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 loss in the third round at Melbourne Park that was nevertheless a step forward and up.

''Full credit to him. He was the best player and greatest of all time,'' Tomic said. ''I'm going to continue to work hard. It's just a matter of time when I get up to the big group of boys in the top 10. I've got to believe and do the things that I was doing the last few weeks. I know I'm going to be in there with this attitude.''

The task now is to carry that good domestic form overseas, to more hostile environments, and surfaces. Federer challenged Tomic to do it last year. He could not. ''I remember those words. I didn't quite do it after I left here,'' Tomic admitted. ''I've got the right goal, the mindset to do what it is I need to do. It's a challenge, but I've committed to myself, I'm up for it. I can't wait for the next tournament to start.''

This time, the last Australian in either singles draw met Federer one round earlier than at the 2012 Open, and remains winless in nine attempts in tour events against players in the top four. Which is largely to be expected, but Tomic has also shown such a liking for the big time, that he would have entered the match believing his own confident statements about feeling unstoppable and ready to win.

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The problem was that Federer was primed, too, the 17-time major winner relishing the chance to show one of the emerging generation that the old guard will not be departing just yet.

By reaching the last 16 for the 12th successive year, Federer remains on course to become the second man in history - after Roy Emerson - to win five Australian titles. But he said Tomic had forced him to play his best tennis, and noticed some improved power and maturity in his young opponent, suggesting that ''the whole package is, I think, a bit better''.

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The problem is that the 31-year-old remains the supreme all-rounder, 17 grand slam titles after it all began, and more relaxed right now than tennis insiders have ever seen him.

He also has a CV to intimidate even the brashest challengers when recounted during the warm-up, as Tomic admitted later.

The early stages would set the tone and a service break in the opening game was both a setback for the underdog and a statement by Federer, whose intent was clear. By the ninth game he had three set points on his opponent's serve, Tomic favoured by a dead net cord on a backhand volley on the second, but his reprieve only temporary, the first set dusted in barely half an hour. Still, into the second, while Tomic was consistently under pressure in his service games, the upside was that he responded well, hitting out with boldness and mostly shelving the funky junky stuff that troubles others more than it has Federer.

Having entered the match on a seven-match winning streak that brought his first career title at the Sydney International, the Australian led 4-1 in the tie-break, although with just one mini-break, but did not surrender the set so much as have it wrenched from him by a vastly more experienced opponent.

Tomic's tactics were the right ones, but Federer was superior when it mattered, that tie-break critical to the outcome. He then conjured a masterful sequence on his fourth break point in the second game of the third set, a stunning cross-court backhand setting up a forehand winner, Tomic losing heart as a brisk 31-minute final act delivered the Swiss champion an unprecedented 250th grand slam match win.

So, for just the fourth time in 16 years there will be no local man or woman in the Open's fourth round, and, for Tomic, there is still just one set to show from his four matches against his childhood idol, which came on an old-style grass court at the Royal Sydney Golf Club at a Davis Cup tie in 2011. Tomic was just 18 then, but buoyed by his Wimbledon quarter-finals appearance, and hailed among the biggest of the rising stars in the men's game.

But from the middle of last year the game got more complicated for a young man who seems to play it so easily, and only through a concerted training program at year's end has he managed to find a clearer path back towards the top. He belongs there, and the signs are encouraging.

''I hope he can keep it up; I really wish him the best,'' Federer said.